Suggestions on how to avoid heavy taxes when hit with rmds twelve years from now

Pray for a market crash. I hope your prayers are answered in the negative.

I have never understood RMD-induced panic. Higher account values mean higher RMD's. Just like any other kind of income, more RMD income means more income tax.

If you don't know, Roth IRAs are not subject to RMD's. One avenue available to you for decreasing future RMD's is to reduce non-Roth account balances through conversions to Roth over the years. However, you shouldn't just rush into this focused solely on reducing RMD's. It all depends on what your tax situation is today vs. what you think it will be when you turn 70 1/2. For example, if you're in the 35% bracket today and anticipate you'll be in the 25% bracket when you face RMD's, you could well be shooting yourself in the tax foot by doing conversions now and paying 35% when you could wait and take RMD's costing you 25% (and in much cheaper dollars because of inflation).

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